As a public school teacher, I have interacted, negotiated and developed a shared vision with a government body for 30 years. In that same capacity, I have budgeted, managed and carefully allocated taxpayer dollars as a department chair and leadership team member. Furthermore, I have engaged, listened, debated, and solved problems with young adults and parents. I have made a number of public decisions affecting groups of individuals and larger bodies of people. In my tenure as a teacher, I have appreciated differences in custom, habits and points of view. It has always been my belief to give respect and thus gain respect. The subject matter I taught always allowed me to suggest another question to follow an answer.
I was elected as an alderman and have followed much of the same course that has been previously stated. I believe I have served the people well in that role. As an alderman and if elected mayor, I will continue to listen, will avoid rushing to judgement, and I always continue to ask the question, “can we do better?”
My first priority is to maintain and enhance those assets in our community that have attracted generations and kept calling St. Charles home. Those assets include preserving our proud heritage, encouraging diverse neighborhoods, retaining our small-town charm, maintaining high quality city services, while nurturing and enhancing our natural beauty.
My second priority is to support a TONE in city government that makes decisions after careful deliberations and does not rush to conclusions. Residents deserve a city government that respectfully listens to all stakeholders and is always asking the question, “can we do better?”
My third priority is to create a new image for our central business district--an image that supports cultural, residential, retail and service-oriented developments. Our renewal should provide opportunities for residents to live, work and play in St. Charles as well as attracting visitors from the greater Chicago metro area and beyond. I have investigated numerous successful models in other communities and I believe St. Charles has yet to achieve its full potential.
As third ward alderman, I have voted twice to freeze the dollar tax levy and my predecessors did the same for three years prior. In addition, expenditures have been cut by 10% since 2008. I would support continuation of such a measure until housing prices rebound while at the same time concentrating on increasing revenues through new commercial development opportunities.
The narrow vote that approved Lexington Club at City Council was a disappointment to me. I supported the redevelopment of the property and I would suggest that position was almost universally accepted in St. Charles. However, I had not supported the proposed Planned Unit Development or the TIF. In committee, I joined six other colleagues rejecting the proposed TIF. I believed we could have done better melding a development that would have been a much superior blend to the neighborhood providing greater benefit to the larger community.
As I publicly stated after the narrow vote, a proposed controversial decision deserves time for the community to absorb and ultimately provide input to elected officials.
This procedure did not occur with the Lexington vote. I would hope we can do better in the future.
The biggest accomplishment of the city this past year was the opening of the Red Gate Bridge, a project that was decades in the making and supported by a large majority of the community. I was proud to vote to approve this important project and I was very pleased by the job that our staff did coordinating the structural and financial aspects of the project. The 45% funding outside city funds suggests careful planning and fiscal stewardship by staff. I was also proud to participate in the dedication of the bridge, which provides another avenue to connect our city and two state highways, reduce traffic on the Main Street bridge, improve emergency response times, and in the future serve as an important link for the many biking and walking trails that we cherish.
I view the fact that I am the only candidate that has been employed as a public servant and elected as a public official to be a significant issue in this election.
My 40 years of experience has enabled me to interact with the residents of St. Charles on a regular basis producing excellent results and representation.
The public trust is sacred; the ethical responsibilities of the public servant and elected official are vital to ensuring stability in maintaining that trust. I have upheld that trust in my public career in St. Charles. I seek this office knowing that, if elected, my actions will be consistent with my lifelong commitment to listening, discussing, challenging and continually seeking to find common ground and accomplish private and public good for all of the stakeholders in St. Charles--residents, entrepreneurs, and visitors.
I am a business lawyer living with my wife and 11 year old son near Davis School. I have spoken many times before the City Council to fight property tax increases and advocate for reasonable development. I have coached kids soccer and baseball teams and also play adult soccer. My law firm sponsors Tri Cities Soccer, St. Charles Chamber of Commerce events and Scarecrow Fest.
My top priority is to recruit businesses to our City, and my professional experience makes me the right person to do this. For more than 20 years, I have advised businesses of all sizes and those who manage them and I recently wrote a book on business and employment negotiation. I want to bring the full weight of my experience to benefit St. Charles.
I am proud to have invested in downtown St. Charles by moving my business to a historic building and renovating it. I recently won the Charlemagne Award for Community Development in recognition of the renovation. As Mayor, when I recruit companies to St. Charles, the businesses will see my commitment to our community and that I have done exactly what I am asking them to do – invest here.
My top priority as Mayor will be to bring businesses to St. Charles. We have a fantastic community, but throughout our City, we have lost businesses and the jobs and tax revenue they represent. From Charlestown Mall in the East to Downtown to the old St. Charles Mall in the West, many of our storefronts, office complexes, and manufacturing facilities are empty. The more businesses we attract to St. Charles, the more jobs we will create, and since businesses pay taxes, the lower the taxes we residents will pay.
After recruiting businesses, I have a set of co-equal priorities to ensure St. Charles is a vibrant City. My other priorities are to lower property taxes, to make sure we continue to have excellent City services, to promote reasonable development and to ensure St. Charles is the most ethical municipal government in Illinois.
Strong ethics and a great business environment go hand-in-hand. Because it is a conflict of interest for the Mayor to do any personal business with those doing business with the City, on my first day in office, I will propose the following ordinance: “The Mayor shall do no business with anybody who does business with the City.”
I support lowering the City of St. Charles tax levy, not freezing it or raising it. In these tough economic times, “freezing the tax levy” means raising the property tax rate so property owners pay more of the value of their homes in taxes, while at the same time, the values of houses decline.
I have repeatedly opposed raising our property taxes during these difficult economic times, and I vigorously opposed the City Council’s decision this past December to raise our property tax rate yet again, by 5.2%. Next year, St. Charles residents will pay an average of $42 more in taxes for every $100,000 of assessed value in their homes.
If the City and all the other taxing agencies keep raising our tax rates, all of us will be so heavily burdened by property taxes that it will be difficult for some to pay the taxes and the value of our homes may go down even more because fewer people will want to buy homes with such high property tax rates.
The solution is not to raise property taxes, but instead to recruit businesses to our City. Businesses bring in tax revenue that residents do not have to pay.
I disagreed with the City Council’s recent decision to approve the Lexington Homes development for at least two reasons.
First, the City did a poor job negotiating with a sophisticated business (the developer); consequently, the City negotiated a bad deal. The result is that St. Charles residents must live with a project that is needlessly dense and a residential TIF that will ultimately increase all our taxes. I am for reasonable development. As a business lawyer, I have negotiated transactions of all sizes, from less than a hundred thousand dollars to more than one hundred million dollars, and I have written a book on business and employment negotiation. As Mayor, I will ensure that the City negotiates the best deals with anyone who negotiates with the City.
Second, the City spent much too much time pushing the residential development, and not enough time recruiting businesses, and their tax dollars and jobs, to our City. A vibrant business environment means increased property values. If property values were higher, the Lexington developer would have cleaned-up his property and built without a TIF because he would make money doing so. As Mayor, I will focus on actively recruiting businesses to St. Charles.
The biggest accomplishment of the City Council this past year was to continue to provide the excellent City Services that help make St. Charles the #1 City for Families in America (as ranked by Family Circle Magazine). The excellent City Services this year included the return of Spring Clean-up which I supported.
What St. Charles needs now is a Mayor who will focus on recruiting businesses to our City so that our City will have a vibrant economic and business environment – and the jobs and business tax revenue this represents – to compliment its #1 family ranking.
Voters should elect me because I do what I say I am going to do, I do so in the most ethical way, I lead by example, I am deeply committed to our community, and I will listen to residents’ ideas for making St. Charles a better place.
As Mayor, I will recruit businesses to St Charles, lower property taxes, provide excellent City services, promote reasonable development and make our City a beacon for ethics in municipal government.
I will work hard to make St. Charles a community that is friendly to both families and businesses. I enjoy listening to residents. And I’m easy to find - There’s a big sign with my name on it in front of my law office downtown on Third Street. I encourage anyone who has questions or comments about my candidacy or about how to make St. Charles a better place to stop by any time. I’m always ready to listen to the concerns of the citizens of St. Charles.
I have more civic and business leadership experience than all of the other mayoral candidates combined. My civic leadership includes:
• St. Charles Mental Health Board – Chairman
• Downtown Partnership Board of Directors
• 2013 St. Charles Comprehensive Plan Task Force – Vice Chairman
• River Corridor Foundation – Treasurer
• First Street Streetscape Design Committee – Chairman
• St. Charles Strategic Planning Task Force
• St. Charles Kiwanis
I contributed leadership in helping all of these organizations attain real and measurable achievements that have benefited our community.
I have been a successful entrepreneur. I started and owned two leading national software companies related to the construction industry. I also created and managed a number of successful retail stores and I currently provide high-level management consulting for construction material producers as Principal of The Caddis Group, LLC.
I have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to generate ideas, build a consensus around those ideas and to then coordinate the design and implementation of a successful strategy to implement that idea. In other words, I have proven that I get things done.
1) Increase the overall health and vitality of the community. St. Charles is blessed with beautiful natural resources. It has garnered recognition as the Best Place in America to Raise a Family. It has a well managed and fiscally sound government. However, too many empty storefronts has made it difficult to attract new business. My highest priority is to provide the leadership St. Charles needs to find a new synergy that will enhance and multiply our many existing assets and make our town a recognized leader in attracting new business. My recent proposals to establish St. Charles as a cycling hub and to create STC Corps of volunteers are part of my comprehensive plan to create that synergy. With little cost, we can attract residents and visitors to our downtown and establish a vibrancy that will make St. Charles a desirable destination for new business. My plan also includes investigating some methods for transforming the Fox River into a recreational asset, and turning our First Street Plaza into regularly scheduled entertainment venue.
2) Increasing the economic health of St. Charles to broaden the tax base and lower the tax burden on individual residents. I have played an active role in attempting to attract all types of new business to St. Charles. Our city is well known as a beautiful community. However, it can be difficult to sell the commercial and industrial opportunities in St. Charles when the visual realities are too many empty store fronts, two mall sites in need of redevelopment, and a sluggish industrial base. The first part of my plan to address this issue is to make St. Charles an attractive location for business. A healthy, vibrant community is a natural attraction for economic growth. In addition, the 2013 St. Charles Comprehensive Plan, which I helped draft, identifies specific, creative alternatives to encourage the development of the old St. Charles Mall site and the Charlestown Mall area, reinvigorate our industrial and manufacturing districts and creatively utilize key gateway opportunities within the community.
3) Develop a comprehensive plan to address the growing concern over mental health diagnosis and treatment within St. Charles. Behind many of the horrible headlines of Sandy Hook, Columbine and Aurora (Colorado) is a mental health issue that was improperly identified, treated and managed. My fourteen year tenure (the past eight years as chairman) of the St. Charles Mental Health Board has provided me with a window by which to witness this growing problem and of the diminishing resources allocated towards improving it. Recently, I have been asked to join a team of school district, community and mental health professionals to begin the task of developing a comprehensive mental health plan for the greater St. Charles community. I will make this effort to increase the visibility of mental health diagnosis and treatment a high priority for my administration.
No, I would not support a general tax freeze on the property tax levy at this time. Such an effort could limit the city’s ability to react to opportunities that would provide long term benefits. The key to lowering taxes for residents is to broaden the overall tax base by enhancing our business community (as described above), increasing our ability to attract new manufacturing and industrial facilities and attracting more visitors by leveraging our many natural and community assets.
The city has done an excellent job of managing its expenses to match the available income, which has enabled the city to have a balanced budget for the past 18 years. These sound fiscal policies have also insured that the resources to complete projects such as the Red Gate Bridge, which has been in various stages of planning for over 80 years.
The manner in which the Lexington Development (a housing development on the old Applied Plastics industrial site) was finally approved. The simple facts are that this development will remove a hazardous waste site from the community, broaden the tax base and provide a type of housing that will encourage a younger demographic to live in close proximity to our downtown shopping district. I agree with the final decision to approve this project, but was dismayed that it was allowed to become such a divisive issue within the community by individuals representing both the pros and cons of this issue. It took far too long to reach a decision on this project and this extended delay accentuated the emotional perspectives.
The opening of the Red Gate Bridge. Daily traffic counts on this bridge are exceeding projections and it is truly serving a key role in melding the eastern and western sides of our community that will allow more responsive access for public safety vehicles, more efficient vehicular movement and generally improved community integration.
Proven accomplishments through extensive civic and business leadership experience, articulated vision and tangible results. I have more civic and business leadership than all other mayoral candidates combined. I have a vision to enhance the vitality and health of St. Charles that is based on real and attainable goals with a delineated action plan. Public officials and candidates too often talk in sound bites without producing any tangible proposals. I have proven leadership and I know how to get things done.
Key leadership and management skills I developed as a leader of large organizations (Military Platoon to Brigade level and Corporate Region Manager and VP) combined with starting two small businesses have prepared me to meet the challenges of leading St. Charles. I have a strong background in developing profit plans/budgets in excess of $300 million and a proven track record in executing those plans. I am a graduate of the National War College – Industrial College of the Armed Forces that prepared me to do analysis of our nation’s industrial base and then develop short and long term strategic objectives to ensure our Nation’s war fighting preparedness. I will utilize these same skill sets as Mayor of St. Charles to further enhance St. Charles’ Comprehensive Plan, aggressively work to finish First Street development, structure business districts for East (Charlestown Mall) and West (St. Charles Mall) Corridors, and support the vision and implementation to make Downtown St. Charles a cultural arts center. My “No-Nonsense” Leadership style coupled with ethics and integrity still allows me to focus on the needs of the residents. My ‘Open Door Policy and Mayor’s Forum” will enable residents to express their concerns and ensure they are heard prior to Council votes. As Mayor, “A Promise Made is a Promise Kept”.
1) Facing the Facts; Fiscal realities of our City’s debt through the misuse of TIF’s to encourage new business or developments. Prime example is our 1st street development – planned completion 2008; deferred because of the economy and 8 years later 2/3’s complete and 1/3 with no alternative plan. It’s time to work with developers to come up with an alternative plan for 1st street. We must re-evaluate and prioritize the “nice to haves & must –haves” to balance budget and pay off future bond debts.
2) Preserving & Enhancing Our Community: Taking a collaborative approach to development & redevelopment; fostering sensible growth in our business community. Example; would prefer expanding a development with 10 smaller businesses with broad & diverse opportunities/tax bases verses going for one big opportunity with limited tax base.
3) A Comprehensive Point of View: Keep an eye on the ‘Big Picture”. Often a decision is made for a short term gain that may not align with our long term strategy/master plan. Will institute a “Mayor’s Forum” to meet with residents, special interest group or business owners prior to each City Council Meeting. I will set aside Mondays as the “Mayor’s Open Door Policy” where any resident, special interest group or business owners will be able to walk in and have 10 minutes with the Mayor. I will continue to have my ”Meet Jake” on Saturdays at the American Legion Post 342
Being a property owner and a tax payer I would answer yes for what the city controls (11% of the total property taxes). City Council and City Administration have done a very good job in maintaining the City’s tax rate level for the past several years. Our taxpayers need to understand that there are eight taxing bodies. The percent breakout is as follows: School District 64%, City 11%, Park District 8%, County 5%, Junior College 5%, Library 4%, Forest Preserve 3%, and Township 2%. What is interesting These taxing bodies meet annually. I plan on studying past content and state statues that guide the discussions and decisions made at these meeting. As Mayor I will institute a quarterly meeting with ALL Taxing Bodies and review/discuss all proposed increases and that they are coordinated with in view of the big picture and best interest of the community and residents. All complaints come to City Hall when in fact the City may not have any influence over that taxing body. My goal will to make it a coordinated effort.
The recent approval of the Lexington TIF was not handled well. Prior to Christmas the Planning Commission met and voted down the Lexington TIF by a vote of 7 no and 2 yes votes. At the first Council meeting in January 2013 a vote was taken with 5 no votes and 5 yes votes and the Mayor voting yes as the tie breaker. I question what took place to have 2 Alderman to change their votes to Yes and what was the rush to get this vote passed. As Mayor I would have withheld my vote and put the Lexington project back into Committee for further discussion with the developer and the citizen’s special interest group that opposed several key aspects of this project. Once all issues heard then I would bring it back before Council for the vote.
I would have to recognize the City Riverside Radium Removal project. The City and Engineering Enterprises Inc. received several awards for a “Job Well Done”. They finished the project early and under budget by $1Million.
I mentioned earlier the City has been able to keep the budget year over year flat with not increase. Chris Minick has done an exceptional job in managing the City budget that reflects a positive savings of $288K in 2018 verse a $750k deficit.
I care about St. Charles and want to preserve the history and values of our community. I am the best-qualifies candidate based on my life experiences:
I am a retired U.S. Army Colonel. The capstone of my career was working for General Norman Schwarzkopf as Deputy Joint logistics Officer for Desert Storm in support of 33 Coalition Nations. In this position I managed a budget of $57 billion providing material, service and assistance in-kind. I was awarded one our Nation’s highest medals “The Defense Superior Service Medal” for wartime and post war logistics support. I am the recipient of the “Bronze Star” for valor during the Vietnam War. The most memorable moment of the Vietnam War was bring home the last of the POW’s.
As an Executive at Sears, I supervised a budget of $300 million and engineered $150 million in saving and cost avoidance. After Sears, I join GENCO Inc. as a VP in-charge 15 distribution centers developing profit plans and negotiating multi-year contracts and leases.
I own 2 private businesses, MAC5 Mortgage INC and Wyatt Consulting in Colorado; this gives me firsthand knowledge of the rewards and challenges of small business, with no local conflicts of interest.
I have been active and involved with the American Legion, VFW and AMVETS in St. Charles, providing sound financial advice and assistance.
I am a long-time resident of St. Charles. My wife Judy and I are both graduates of St. Charles High School. We have three sons and seven grandchildren. I want to ensure we preserve the rich history, beauty and charm of St. Charles and these qualities are worth protecting against challenges that exist in the future and can impact our City’s precious quality of life. When elected I will listen to the citizens, serve them and represent them while maintaining clear communication with an “Open-Door-Policy”. A “Promise Made will be a Promise Kept”.
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